Change
by ChallengingReality
Summary: What happens when the Doctor must alter his own timeline to save a companion from his future? Nine/Rose, Eleven/Clara, some Twelve/Clara in an obsessive kind of way. Takes place after The Time of the Doctor.
1. Prolouge

Disclaimer : I don't own Doctor Who or any of its characters. Only the storyline is mine.

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Prologue

Summary : What happens when the Doctor must alter his own timeline to save a companion from his future? Nine/Rose, Eleven/Clara, some Twelve/Clara in an obsessive kind of way. Takes place after The Time of the Doctor.

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It began with a row, as all things with this new Doctor tended to do.

"I'm going home! Maybe some time away from me will improve your disposition you cynical, overbearing git!"

"You aren't leaving me, Clara Oswald. I won't let you!" The new, silver haired Doctor roared and lunged at her, grabbing her up by the arms and squeezing firmly until his companion cried out in pain. "You are mine, you understand me girl? Mine!" His words were punctuated by a shake and a crowding of Clara's person against the console.

"Doctor, you're hurting me!"

These words may have had no effect on the Doctor, but his TARDIS certainly did something about them. The sentient time ship shrieked and bucked until the pair were forced apart then landed and popped the door so that Clara could escape. And so she ran with a shout over her shoulder first to the ship and then to the man she thought she loved and was now a brutal stranger, "Thanks Old Girl! Sod off Doctor! I never want to see you again!"

Once she was out the TARDIS slammed and locked the door and threw she and her Time Lord into the Vortex where he couldn't get to his companion again. Things between this companion and the Doctor had always been different from the others. She was his obsession, the one who knew him best of all the ones who had come before. Better than she should, and saw things about him she should not. So now he feared her loss, for she was the last and best part of himself, his sole salvation. But these rows of theirs had been coming more and more often since he regenerated into this form. At first she tried her best to keep going with him, to adapt to this new face and this new personality. Unfortunately, there was nothing of the man she knew before in this version of the Doctor.

_**Clara, you know me best. What sort of man am I?**_

_**I don't know, I honestly don't know.**_

He was resentful and cynical, and she was no longer his clever Impossible Girl. His Clara. He never held her hand or kissed her head, never hugged her even when she desperately needed him to. Nothing she did was ever good enough for this face, this Doctor, and six months of it had finally culminated into this last, terrible fight.

"Go back! Take me back you blithering old sow!" The TARDIS sparked and pitched violently at his rude words, wailing psychically to show her annoyance the best way she knew how. This man was no longer her Doctor, who has always said lovely things to her and kept her in the best shape he knew how to. No; he was treading the line that all who knew him prayed he would never cross. The Valeyard, the bringer of all darkness and destruction in the universe. He wasn't there yet, but he was so close that she knew he'd hurt their Impossible Girl if she took him back to her now. Perhaps, in her way, she could still help both of them.

And so, even as her Doctor overrode her helm controls and started them back, the TARDIS put a plan into motion that would alter the outcome of this entire situation.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

Disclaimer : See chapter one. Still don't own it.

Author's Note : Please excuse my bad accent making, I'm from the United States. Also I am aware of some slight OOC with Rose and Clara, but I figure its okay since they're just snarking. Thanks for joining me and enjoy.

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She could feel the bruises where he'd had his hands on her arms already beginning to form. It hurt too much for their not to be some mark from the altercation. Of all the things she'd been through for the man, and all the heartache she'd endured for him, how could it all come to this? How could he have come so far, fallen so far from the man she knew, to become this heartless creature he was now? Tears were already starting to fall down her face, enough so that her vision was too blurry to see when she ran face first back into the TARDIS door.

"Ow! Son of a-" She looked at the giant blue box and a long line of explicative referencing the Doctor sprang from her lips, tears forgotten. "Go away Doctor! I told you I didn't want to see you again! You hear me in there, you crazy git? Go. A-way!" With each word she pounded her palms against the door of the TARDIS, not at all expecting for said door to open without her using her key. So she ended up taking a nosedive right into the grating of the ship. "Ow..."

"Oi, who are you? How'd you get in here?" A feminine voice drew her attention up until she saw the blonde looking down at her from the jump seat. It didn't register that the woman was familiar to her at first, just that her Doctor had gone and gotten a new companion then come back to rub it in her face.

"You the Doctor's new strumpet then? Where'd he get you, huh? Never mind, just wait until I get my hands on that-"

The girl bristled then scowled. "Rude. I'm Rose Tyler, I'm the Doctor's companion. If anyone is a strumpet around here, it must be you since you obviously don't belong here. Don't know how you got in, it isn't like the TARDIS to just let some stranger in." She turned her head, not noticing the strange dark haired girl swaying on her feet as she called for the Doctor.

"You're _**Rose? **_But that's impossi-" Clara's eyes went wide as a tall, dark haired man came striding into the console room with a look on his face that bordered on hostile. She knew all his faces, every regeneration, even the one he tried to hide from. This wasn't her Doctor, and this wasn't her TARDIS. No, she'd crossed his timeline in a way she never wanted to do again. This man, this tall, leather clad Time Lord in front of her, was the Doctor's Ninth self. The Oncoming Storm, the Old Soldier.

She fell to the ground in a dead weight as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Too much stress, too little sleep equaled a fainted Clara.

* * *

_Well that was unexpected. _He thought as he moved the unconscious girl onto the vacated jump seat. He gave Rose a once over to make sure she was alright then pulled out his sonic and started scanning the girl with it. He spoke absently as he made his scans, mostly to keep his blonde companion from complaining about his silence. As much as he adored Rose, sometimes she really had a problem keeping quiet.

"How'd she get in?"

"I don't know, I was just sitting here and she waltzed right on in. Fell flat on her face."

He snickered at that. "She have a key?"

"I don't think so, the TARDIS just opened up and let her in, no key required."

He frowned, contemplating that for a moment. "Something isn't right here." And he did so love a good mystery, always had. The sonic beeped finally and he looked at the readings, dark eyebrows soaring upwards as blue eyes went wide and he frowned harder. "This isn't right, not at all. No, no, no. Can't be, doesn't work like that, something must be malfunctioning in the sonic."

"Doctor? What is it?"

"The sonic's telling me she's part Time Lord, which is impossible. Cause its also telling me she's all human. The sonic must be busted." He shook it, reconfigured, and tried again. Same results. The Doctor narrowed his eyes finally at the reading then looked at the girl unconscious on his jump seat. "Impossible, you're impossible." She was also covered in both vortex energy, meaning she time traveled, and his own personal energy, which didn't make any since at all. Definitely a mystery, and finally a big dopey grin spread across his features. "Fantastic."

Rose cracked up at that grin, her face breaking into a grin of her own after she calmed down enough. The grin he loved best, that tongue in teeth grin that always made him feel just so fantastic. "You and your mysteries." She was still grinning, but now she'd come to stand next to him. "She's a rude one, she is. Called me a strumpet. And what exactly did she mean by your 'new' anything, Doctor? Aren't I the first one?"

"Well..."

"Doctor!"

"Oi now Rose, don't be difficult. I'm nearly nine hundred years old, that's a long time to travel the universe, you know. I'll tell you though, you are special Rose." But he really didn't answer her question, no reason to upset his Rose. She seemed content with his answer so he didn't elaborate. Of course Rose wasn't the first person to travel with him, not even the first human. She probably figured by him calling her special that she'd take it as she was the first 'female' to travel with him. Still wasn't, but whatever kept his human happy.

Then his mind went back to what his companion said and his eyes narrowed once again, the edge of the Oncoming Storm in that gaze. "She called you a what?"

"A strumpet. Now don't give me that look, it ain't the first time. And it probably won't be the last." She shrugged. "Seemed to know you though, which now that I think about it is pretty weird. She was...mental, rabid even. Pretty ticked at you too, way she came in here all ready to pummel you into submission."

"Rose, she's smaller than you are, I sincerely doubt she could 'pummel' much of anyone." Much less a six foot plus Time Lord. But his wrath had been averted for the time being. "You said she seemed to know me? Was angry with me even, but she didn't know who you were?"

The blonde bit at her bottom lip, a sure sign she was thinking the incident over more carefully now that he'd asked her about it. "Actually...once I told her my name she almost looked like she was going to be sick. Said I was 'impossible'. Somethin' like that." She paused then gave him a look. "And just because I'm small doesn't mean I can't handle you, you big eared git." She said that with the utmost affection, and well he knew. She loved his ears, told him so fairly often when he complained about his daft old face.

He could only smile, her show of temper more endearing that worrisome. She was a clever thing, his Rose. Almost as clever as himself. Almost. His returning grin faded again as something clicked in his mind and he scanned the girl again. "Knew me, knew you after the fact, said you were impossible; which means she knows something that..." It finally came together and he propelled himself back from the girl with a low growling sound. "She must be from my future. Meaning we need to get her out of here. Now."

"Doctor, she's out cold. We can't just leave her out there on the ground where anyone could come up and hurt her."

"Sure we can."

"DOCTOR!" Rose scolded him, even batting him in the back of his head for good measure.

He sighed. "You're right, you're right." He ran a hand over his face and close shaved head, pacing the console room in long strides while he got his brain to work. "Can't leave her here, can't leave until she wakes up, other me will probably be along to collect her soon anyway. Can't really meet myself. Well, I could, I've had it happen before but I really don't like doing it and it can cause a monstrous paradox that'll make that little incident with your Dad look like a trip to a pleasure planet."

"Doctor!"

And he stopped, his companion watching him from next to the jump seat, a hand on the girl's face as she tried to wake her up. "Yes Rose?"

"I've been callin' you over an' over for five minutes now." She shook her head. "Come over here an' look at this. She's burnin' up. An' the poor thing's got these big bruises on her arms."

Bruises? On a companion of his? Future or not, she was still someone that would eventually come to be under his protection and that meant he had to at least mind her until she woke up and he could return her to his proper self. It wasn't too much of a problem, Rose got bruised up all the time, but the placement did make him wonder. He came forward, pulling himself down into a better position to look at them and checking her temperature first with a touch and then with the sonic. Rose was right, she was burning up. He frowned. "Something isn't right." He'd said that at the first, but now the sense was screaming at him. The bruises on her arms were almost perfect indents of hands, of crushing force on too fragile a person. "Rassilon.." He breathed out the curse, ignoring Rose's look of question as he scanned her again, switched modes, then scanned again.

He finally got up and gathered the unconscious brunette into his arms, striding for the door that led deeper into the TARDIS. "Old Girl, bring the medbay 'round. This girl needs help." His senses were going haywire around her like they once had in a different regeneration over Romana. Time Lord, or more accurately Time Lady. But again, it was completely impossible. And she was sick, probably from exhaustion given that she'd fainted like this, but something about that didn't seem quite right. He'd know in a few minutes.

Rose kept pace with him despite their differences in height, worry written on her face. Even though the girl in his arms had been rude to her before his Rose was a gentle spirit and would never wish anyone harm. Well...most anyone anyway. "She'll be okay, yeah?"

He didn't want to lie to her about it so he just gave her a look that said he didn't know for sure. She should be, it didn't seem to be that severe, but he couldn't help but worry. Time Lady or human girl, didn't matter. All that mattered now was that something bad had been done to her to bring her to this state. He could feel his own energy bouncing back at him, but it was tainted. Wrong somehow. "What has he done to you?"

She stirred right after he laid her on the medical bed, but he was too distracted with the instruments he was gathering to really do anything more than talk to her. "Stay still. You're safe here."

Clara's eyes opened and went wide and she sat up on the bed, scooting back until she hit the wall. "Oh my god..."

"Hey, its okay. The Doctor's one of the good one's yeah? He won't hurt you." Good old Rose, always knew just what to say and do in situations like this. Too domestic for him. "If he says you're safe then you are."

"Rule...number one." She said it vaguely, her panic evident.

"Don't wander off?" Rose offered helpfully.

"The Doctor always lies." She told the other girl about the same time the Doctor quoted it as well, making them look at each other. Yeah, she was a companion.

"Well. Now that you're awake maybe you can tell us how you got here." His tone was firm but not really harsh. No reason to scare her as she'd obviously been through enough already. "And be still, its hard to treat a squirming patient."

"But...you're not a doctor."

"Yes I am." Enough of one to know her temperature shouldn't be that high. "Can you take aspirin?"

She shook her head. "M'allergic."

Right. Well he had to find something...oh okay that would work. "This might sting a bit." He put something to the side of her temple and compressed it, causing the brunette to hiss out an obscenity in his native language that made even him look wide eyed at her. Both because she spoke the language and because it was about the rudest thing one of his kind could say to the other.

"Wha? It hurt!" She snarled it at him, obviously very cross with him for some reason. Or other him at any rate.

"I said it would." He tried to be comforting, but ended up with just about the dopiest grin possible on his face when she smacked him upside the head and sent him crashing to his rump on the floor. He always had liked feisty companions. She scowled down at him from her place on the medical table, eyes still haunted and curled up in a ball. It was then it finally occurred to him what had to have happened to her, why she was so angry with him. He might have been a bastard at times, ruthless even, a blood covered murderer for sure, but he'd _**never**_ sunk to that level. It took her knocking some sense into him to make him see. The hand shaped bruises, how she flinched and skittered away from from his touch even when he was only trying to help. The anger towards Rose being his new companion before she realized she wasn't in the right frame of time. All of it. Her Doctor had _**hurt**_ her.

The rage that hit him drew him to his feet in one of his too-fast displays of movement most Time Lords were capable of. She shrank back from him so he toned it down, but his voice was in that low register she had to recognize if she had been traveling with him for any length of time. After all, most companions got a look at 'Oncoming Storm' mode. Even when it hadn't had a name, they'd seen his darker side. One did not mess with a companion and not get that look after the fact. He was fiercely protective of the ones that came with him, always had been. Even as his original self, the old man that stole the TARDIS in the first place, he'd been stoic but protective. At least of Susan.

"He hurt you, didn't he? The other me?" He shook with rage at that. He'd never hurt a woman, not like this, not like this wanker had done. He was twisted, this other him.

Clara was still regarding him distrustfully, her eyes watching every move he made. Even Rose nearby didn't seem to make her feel any better. Though, he noted with a bit of relief, she did seem to be at least doing a bit better physically, and she wasn't radiating the excess heat that had so concerned both he and his blonde companion. He watched her, keeping her gaze until she slowly nodded and wrapped her arms against her body. As if he would hurt her too.

"And is he the one that left the bruises on your arms?"

Another nod.

"That wanker! Has he ever done this before?" Rose. He'd forgotten she was there for a moment as fury escalated through his body. His brilliant companion was asking the questions that would tell him something that could change his personal history. If this was the first time...well he would still trounce the man to within an inch of his life, but at least he'd consider allowing her to go back to the man. If this was ongoing abuse...Rassilon forbid he'd become something that horrid. He'd take her with he and Rose and not look back, the consequences be damned. And he usually minded the rules of time.

"Not that this bein' the first time makes it any better, but at least then we know how much to trounce the gent when we find him."

Clara let out a coughing laugh at that, making both he and Rose look at her. "You can't. You can't go near yourself, the rules of the Time Lords forbid it. And heaven forbid he sees _**her**_." She motioned to Rose. "You aren't allowed to muddle in your own timeline, you risk the collapse of all things, not to mention the reapers. Dealt with those lot before, not an experience I'm keen to repeat." She finally smiled, and though it was a weak excuse for one, it told him that she at least was going to give them a chance, give _**him**_ a chance. Though why that mattered when he barely knew the girl was anyone's guess.

"I'm Clara, by the way. Clara Oswald. Probably shouldn't even tell you that much, but I can't just sit here and let you call me 'that girl' or 'you there' or something equally as rubbish." She rubbed at her arms, still wary though not quite as much as before. He had the feeling she had seen more than one of his faces with the way she was examining this one so very closely. "This is the first time he's hurt me physically, but..." She looked away, at the far wall until the TARDIS made a soft humming noise to the girl in an attempt to soothe her. "Thanks for that, Old Girl. Sorry about poundin' on the door." Another coo and the sensation of pressure on his mind. He shucked his leather jacket and wrapped it around her, figuring the pressure had been his ship prompting him to do something about the way she was folded in still. Like a jacket could cure this particular sort of coldness. The smile he got for his gesture made his hearts wibble inside his chest. Not a sensation he'd felt before. Who was this girl? Or more importantly, who was she going to be?

"Thank you."

He shrugged, pushing it and the feeling aside. He had Rose now, no reason to fuss over the future just yet. Still, his blue eyes went back to her dark ones and waited for the rest of her comment even though he already had a feeling he knew what she was going to say. The warped aura of himself, of his psychic touch, told him more than enough about this other him, and it infuriated him. "I'm...mostly immune to his telepathic power now, but he's still very crass and very hateful. He says the most horrible things to me. Can't seem to do anythin' right, not with this version. Never good enough, but he won't tell me what I'm doin' wrong. I'm not his clever, impossible girl anymore, I'm just 'that human' that travels with him." She started to cry and he couldn't help but step forward to comfort her. Rose had done the same.

He wrapped his arms around her, fully expecting her to pull away from his touch; to scream and thrash against his hold after what the other him had done. Instead she let out a strangled sob and pressed herself in against his frame, head to his chest and smaller form shaking as he gathered her in closer to himself. He ended up sitting on the edge of the medical bed, looking helplessly over the brunette's head at Rose as if she would know what to do. This was definitely domestic, but he wasn't so cold to leave a woman this much in distress by herself. Especially since he was the cause of all this. Well, future him.

Still her words did exactly what he thought they'd do; enraged him past the point of caring about the rules. His future self had become the Master, not caring who he hurt or what he had to do to get what he wanted so long as he got it. Psychic intrusion was wrong on so many levels, and even the strongest human would eventually succumb to verbal abuse if it went on long enough. He had a feeling this other him wasn't a very pleasant regeneration, more that Clara had escaped a madman. He was escalating, and that meant the girl now in his arms was in more danger than she could possibly know. And it explained why she read off as time lord, she'd been around him long enough for his very essence to start rubbing off on her. A companion of years, not weeks like Rose. Like Sarah Jane, this girl had been with this other self of his for a very long time.

Rose came over and started rubbing at Clara's back, making these little hushing sounds at the other girl that didn't help the breaking of his hearts over her sobbing in his arms. "Alright then, Clara. You just rest now, let Rose take care of you, yeah? I'm going to go have a chat with this gent of yours."

She looked up at him, and her expression was pained. "Don't make me go back. Please."

His gaze went hard. "I won't. I promise you, you don't ever have to go back to him." She seemed content with that and let him ease her into Rose's arms rather than his. "Keep the jacket, I'll be back for it." It would help, it was the one thing he always had on him and that meant it held his essence as surely as his own body. It would eradicate some of the negativity lingering on the frightened girl. She may have seemed strong, may even have railed and gone at his other self with everything her tiny body could manage, but he was certain she would have eventually failed. His other self would not have let her go, of that much he was certain.

* * *

He had managed to regain control of his stubborn time ship after only a few minutes of struggle, and now parked the TARDIS a few feet outside Clara's apartment complex. She'd have gone here, the stupid chit, like he wouldn't come here first to find her. He took the steps two at a time, coming to her door and immediately using the sonic to get it open. Like a lock was going to stop him from reclaiming what was his. "Clara! I know you're here, come out now. This has gone on long enough now, girl, come back. You can't escape me, Clara. You know me too well, you can't be allowed to leave me." He went to her room and then the loo, tracking his steps back into the main living room until he realized she wasn't home. The fuck?

So he banged on her neighbor's door until the old bint opened to see him. "I'm looking for Clara, she lives next door to you. Where is she?" His tone was harsh, flat even, like he cared. The old woman was worthless.

The woman sniffed at him haughtily before she deigned answer. "Miss Oswald hasn't been home for over a week now, and well you know. Its positively indecent, a man your age gallivanting around with a young woman all the time. Why in my day-"

He cut her off with a sharp turn on his heel and marched back down the stairs. So she hadn't come here then. Perhaps she'd gone to see her father, or the little family she'd once babysat for before becoming a semi-full time companion. She still taught, which he would put a stop to once he found her, and then she would be his and only his. And by God she would mind him!

The Doctor didn't even note that the door of his ship was open, he'd been in such haste to collect his wayward companion he could have just as likely left it that way as not. His ship was silent, cold to him and his mood when she had never been so before. "Oh stuff it you steaming pile of junk!" He snarled, earning him an angry squeal of the console and engines before she went quiet again. She didn't like how he was handling the Clara situation, but again he couldn't bring himself to care.

He was at the controls when a voice that had gone anger deep came from behind him, one he had heard before but thought never to hear again once he left that particular part of his life behind.

"So you're the git that likes beatin' on women."

As he turned around his eyes had only a moment to recognize one of his old faces before he received a fist in the face, sending him crashing to the floor in a heap. The pain was sharp and immediate, and as darkness encroached on his vision he saw his old self standing over him, the Oncoming Storm showing violent in blue eyes that had never held hatred like that for any other being save the Daleks. Now, that hatred was for him.


	3. Chapter Two

Disclaimer : I don't own Doctor Who or any of its characters. Only the storyline is mine.

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Chapter Two

Summary : What happens when the Doctor must alter his own timeline to save a companion from his future? Nine/Rose, Eleven/Clara, some Twelve/Clara in an obsessive kind of way. Takes place after The Time of the Doctor.

* * *

Even after his other self had lost consciousness some dark part of the Doctor kept him after the man he would someday become. Other him would not soon forget the beating he'd sustained for this event. Maybe that would knock the common decency back into him. He had to reign in the urge he had to beat the other Time Lord to death. He had more than enough blood on his hands to include his own end. That was a paradox waiting to happen, killing himself. No matter what he'd done, he couldn't deal the death blow. He was not a god, and would not be executioner for anyone else. So, though memory of Clara's bruises and haunted eyes plagued him, he stopped his assault and perched himself on the jump seat to await his other self's awakening. He hoped the bastard awoke with a splitting headache.

Did that make him spiteful? Probably. Did he care after what he'd witnessed with the tiny companion hiding from this horrible man he'd become in his TARDIS medbay? Not at all. He did wonder, as he sat there waiting, what had happened to make him this way. What dark thing had he seen or had to do that made him...that caused this person that called himself 'the Doctor' to even exist? He always imprinted heavily on the first sentient creature he laid eyes on after a new regeneration. Since she'd been with him long enough by the feel of her energy, he guessed little Miss Clara had been the first face this new/old face of his saw. She was special, he could feel it. Impossible. So why was he so cruel to her? What was going on? He needed to find out, and he needed to do so quickly.

He waited for some time, looking at the changes in the TARDIS and trying to reassure this future version of his ship that all would be well, that Clara was in safe hands. As the other him stirred his attention riveted over and he rose, arms crossed over his dark colored jumper and feeling odd without his jacket. No need to fuss over that now, Clara had needed it more than him. "So, the monster awakens."

His other self snarled as he came awake, pulling his battered frame to his feet in a quick movement that only another Time Lord would notice. "You!" He roared out the accusation, pointing at his other self with a look that was lethal. "She went to you! Of all the bloody incarnations for her to run to, she came to you! The bloody soldier. What she tell you, huh? She give you the sob story? Tell you some rubbish about me and her and what's going on here?"

He came to stand toe to toe with his Ninth self, neither of them backing down even as they stood nearly the same height. Both with blazing blue eyes, and the hardened look of a man used to battle. So far had the mighty fallen. "Let me tell you, gent, you should learn to mind your own business. Clara is my companion, not yours."

The Ninth noted how hostile this other self of his was, how obsessively possessive he seemed to be over their companion. "Your companion was sent to me, probably by your TARDIS." He had to pause at the unholy roar of rage that came from the older looking male, directed at their ship and in their native language. Like what Clara had said earlier, it was about the rudest thing one of his kind to say to another and answered the question of where she'd gotten it. He wasn't just a sorry excuse for a Time Lord, he also cursed like a sailor. If this had been any other circumstance, he'd have found it hilarious. The companion becoming like the Doctor she traveled with, at least in her choice of curses.

"Tell me then, if you say she's tellin' tales, where did the bruises on her arms come from? Why is she so afraid of you, huh gent? Cause it looks to me like you've fallen so far that you think beating our companions is a good idea."

"She's not 'our' anything! She's mine dammit! Mine!" He took a breath and seemed to gather himself, but the Ninth had already decided the man was mental, totally unhinged in some unfathomable way that made him cringe. "I didn't beat her, no matter what she said. I would never hurt my Clara. I simply had to hold her still so that she would listen when I spoke to her. She's a bit pigheaded, she is."

This other him thought him stupid, he could tell by the tone in his voice. She was no more 'his Clara' than...He shook his head at the thought. His anger of before was at the surface, his mind kept flashing to the bruises and the damage to her mind and her energy. That she'd been so scared, that she'd fallen apart in his arms. He was a stranger to her, and she'd sought his comfort and protection. And Rassilon help him, he was going to give it to her. No way was she coming back here, not without a substantial fight. Time line be damned.

"Her mind was burning. I felt your touch in her mind. You were killing her." His tone was deadly deep, the Oncoming Storm ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice.

"Burning? You're stupid. I would never allow a companion's mind to burn, we couldn't allow it with Rose and I certainly won't allow it with Clara." But he shrugged before continuing, not even bothering to explain his comment in regards to Rose Tyler. "I was teaching her to mind me. Mental stimulation works best with the stubborn ones. She doesn't want to learn, stupid girl."

Stupid girl, mind me, his Clara, mine...over and over, he spoke of her like she was a posession, a thing rather than a person. "She's not a dog you have to leash train. She's a human, and a bloody brilliant one at that." How he knew that he couldn't figure out, but his hearts were wibbling inside him again. There was an echo here, of the man this other him had come from and the one he would someday become.

"Damn close. Humans are so...simple. Clara is no different, she's just a bit more...open minded." They were both standing, but the stare off had shifted because they were both trying to size the other up. They were of near equal height, though his newest incarnation was slender and gangly whereas he was built like the soldier he'd been. Between the two of them, in a physical fight, he'd win. No doubting that, no matter that he abhored the violence of it.

"Go back to Rose, you tired old soldier. Go back to her and forget about Clara. Clara is my present, and a future you will never see, that you should never have seen. Her state is my business, and mine alone. You'll not have her, she's my companion as much as Rose Tyler is yours. You'd never allow someone to take our precious Rose. Much as we denied it, Rose was the first we saw that regeneration, and the one that will carry us on into another." He obviously didn't care if he shared bits of the future, and that too worried him. A Time Lord without rules could destroy the...

No...oh no...this wasn't him at all. This man that had once been him, was the very thing he feared becomming since it was foretold. He was the Valeyard, the destroyer of all things, or at least he was painfully close. Worse than the Master, worse than any enemy he'd seen ever before. And it hurt, because it meant that someday he would be evil if he didn't seriously put some sort of contengency into place soon to prevent it from happening.

The dark essence he'd felt on Clara he felt all around him here, and it all made sense now. His temper had gone cold, his mood rapidly changing. He had to leave, leave this horrid old man to his own choices, but not with Clara. No, she'd not come back here.

"Clara is mine now, you vile old sod." His tone was hard, something he'd never thought he'd reach with any incarnation of himself. "She's coming with me, she'll be my companion as much as Rose is, and I surely won't so sorely use and abuse her as you have. She's impossible, brilliantly, impossible. I won't be giving her back to you again."

He made to leave, fully expecting the snarling attack that came from his older self. What he didn't expect was the violent mental attack that came with it. He winced internally as the TARDIS wailed in despair over the fighting within her then fought back. This version might have year son him, but the Ninth was the one regeneration with combative telepathic power. He never used it, ever, but in this he had to.

By the time the fight ended his other self had left the TARDIS behind, probably in search of Clara.

"Bloody hell." He cursed loudly then ran out the door after the man that had caused so much pain in one small human girl.


	4. Chapter Three

Disclaimer : Still don't own.

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Chapter Three : Tell Me

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It took her some time to adjust once the Doctor left the ship to do God only knew what. Knowing him, something mental. Or dangerous. Or stupid. Or all of the above. She certainly wouldn't put it past him, no matter what face he wore. Jeopardy friendly, him. He was so different, this Doctor. So big and intense and blatantly protective of his companion. Rose was a very lucky girl. He was a good one, like she'd said, though her pain over the treatment from her own Doctor still haunted her. She pulled the leather jacket tighter around her body, tilting her head to rub her nose in it when Rose wasn't looking and inhaling deeply.

Even after all the time that went between this regeneration and the one she was fondest of, he still smelled the same. Like a summer storm on the cusp of breaking tinted with oak wood and the scent she associated with time. Clara curled her fingers against the jacket again and looked back at the girl that was keeping her company. "How long have you traveled with the Doctor, Rose?"

The blonde beamed, obviously finding the topic enjoyable. "About four weeks, not long at all. How about you?"

She seemed to think, her eyes going thoughtful for a long moment before she decided. "Two years with my last Doctor, six months with this one."

"Excuse me, your 'last' Doctor?" The look on the blonde's face was priceless and Clara couldn't help but laugh despite everything going on. Rose huffed at her for it. "S'not funny."

"Sorry, sorry. I guess our favorite gent hasn't gotten 'round to telling you about how he changes. The Doctor isn't always the same. He has...well I don't think I should really be telling you this, but you are his companion so you should know. No need to be taken by surprise. He changes, instead of dyin' and leavin' us and the universe behind, he does something called regeneration and just...changes." She shook her head, unable to explain it.

"My Doctor..." She could still hear him calling her his Clara, his Impossible Girl. Clever, brilliant, brave, and all the other things he'd said to her. Said about her. That was all gone now, and it made tears spring to her eyes. She was no lightweight, no pushover, but she'd lost her best friend and someone she cared for deeply. She'd known all his faces, but his Eleventh self was hers. Her Doctor like this version was Rose's.

"The way you say his name...you loved him, didn't you?" Rose was too perceptive for her own good, and her gaze was serious on the brunette girl huddled in the Doctor's jacket. The longing in her voice, how her eyes had misted, it was all a sign. Clara had once loved the Doctor. Or would someday love him. Timelines were funny things.

She didn't answer the question though, leaving it to chance. "My Doctor was this mental, floppy haired gent with the biggest grin in the universe and a chin that went on for miles." Both women laughed at that.

"First the ears, now a chin? Do I dare ask if it gets worse than that?" Not that she needed to know, didn't want to mess with time, but generalizations had to be alright, right?

Their conversation went on for a long while after that, topics always circling around the Doctor in one form or the other. Clara told Rose about her Doctor's various quirks, his loving of custard and fish fingers, which made both of them gag to think about, to his absurd attraction to fez. She even went so far as to mention him being unable to walk by a fez without wanting to try it on. It had both infuriated and amused her.

Rose in turn related tales of her first meeting with the Doctor, of seeing the Earth burn long in the future and meeting the last human who was actually a skin trampoline. They spoke of danger and adventure and always of the hands holding and the manic grin and the need to protect. Always run.

The mention of that word turned the atmosphere somber again, but not because it was a bad topic. Far from it. "He learned that from me, ya know? Run? Its always run with him. My clever Doctor, always in trouble he is." Her tone was soft and she huddled less in the jacket than she had before. "Never let go, hold on tight, keep up, and always always run. I was his Impossible Girl, the one mystery in the universe equal to his own. I'd do anything for the Doctor, and I have. The universe itself couldn't keep me from going to that crazy gent in his big blue snogbox if he needed me."

She shook then and Rose sat next to her and cuddled her like they'd been friends for years. "Its okay. The Doctor will look out for you, yeah? He won't let that horrid gent get you again. Don't be scared." Rose thought on what she'd learned and finally looked Clara in the eye, making sure their gazes met and held. "Tell me something, Clara. You're so devoted to the Doctor, but you ran away from him. Why? I mean obviously he's being a prat, but it sounds like you really care for him."

"He's different Rose. He's hateful and cruel, and I'm next to useless to him. He's not my Doctor, he's a stranger that used to be a great man. He's a monster." She sighed. "Rose Tyler, you have to swear that what I'm about to tell you never leaves this room. Promise me you wont' tell anyone, nto even teh Doctor." Never you mind that the TARDIS could hear everything they said.

Though the other girl frowned she finally swore. "I promise."

So she told her, told her about going to the place the Doctor must never go, of jumping into his time stream to save him, of being torn to bits by the time wings and incarnating in every possible place the Doctor needed her from the very beginning. She'd seen them all, every face, every horrible day. From the start, she'd been his companion, his steady force no matter what happened, no matter that he couldn't always see her. She saved him, she'd died countless times for him, and would do so again if it meant he'd get to live.

"I've seen countless things, I've traveled the universe, I've been to Gallifrey and met the man that started this entire journey. I saw the journey, was part of it in small and big ways. All throughout time, always for the Doctor. I was born to save the Doctor."

"Clara, honey, I don't-" She was cut off by the door slamming open and the TARDIS screaming like she was dying.

"Hello Clara." His flinty gaze didn't move from her, though he addressed the other person in the room. "Rose, how nice to see you again." His voice was cold, dead almost, and rough with anger and repressed violence. "You've been very bad, running away from me. Its time to go back now, Clara." He held his hand out to her in a facade of a motion he'd made many times as his previous self. He was in no mood to be trifled with.

"Oi, gent, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you'd best shove off if ya know what's good for you!" Rose snarled at him, immediately defending Clara as the other girl had turned white behind her.

Rose was thrown immediately against the wall, the Doctor's forceful shove barely moving his body. He was strong, inhumanly strong, though he rarely showed it. Clara dove off the bed to check on the blonde, praying she wasn't dead. The jacket fell from her shoulders, left discarded on the table.

"What do you want from me?! Haven't you done enough!" Her voice was shrill, pained. "You hate me, you've made that clear enough. Let me go, I'm not going back with you, I don't want to be your companion anymore. Find some other poor sod to go off with you, to abuse. I'm done, Doctor. I'm done."

The smile that came on his face was cruel, not at all a good sign. "Clara, Clara, Clara. You fail to understand me. That wasn't a request, stupid girl, it was an order. You have no say in the matter. You belong to me, I say when you can go, and I am never letting you leave me." She knew too much, made him feel too deeply. To lose her, even for a moment, infuriated and scared him. "Come back with me now, or I swear to you I will kill Rose Tyler."

He felt nothing for the blonde now, she'd made her choices. She'd been lost too long ago now for him to care. But Clara was soft hearted, and she wouldn't want anything to happen to the little blonde human.

_'My pink and yellow human.'_

The thought was quickly banished along with the pained feeling in his chest over seeing the little blonde crumpled against the far wall. He staggered back, grabbing his head for a moment. "Shut up!"

_'My Clara, my Impossible Girl.'_

Another thought, another regeneration, now angrily voicing in his head. All his selves, all his previous memories, they were clamoring now. He didn't realize he'd truly gone insane, hearing things and voices and the past haunting him. This was why he needed Clara so much. She made things make sense. She quieted the raging in his head, the voices and the pain and the crowd of memories. Without her...well he was sure he'd go off the deep end and never come back. Which was unacceptable. She would mind him, she would stay with him. There was no other option.

_'Clara's afraid of me.'_

"Shut up!"

_'She won't take my hand. She's scared, and I hurt Rose. Why? Why? The two most important women in the universe...'_

"Shut. _**UP!"**_

"Doctor?"

His eyes came open to see Clara just there in front of him, pale and visibly afraid, but she'd come to him. "Clara?" For a moment everything went crystal clear, and what he'd done loaded into his mind with the force of a hurricane. It hurt, and so he let the madness take him again, let his darkness overwhelm his mind. "We're leaving."

"Over my dead rotting corpse."

He swung around and met the enraged eyes of his Ninth regeneration, the man standing over Rose's limp form near the far wall. The bastard must have snuck in while he'd been otherwise occupied. The man was in fine state, blue eyes ablaze and rage roaring off his very being. Time Lord's were viscous things when someone endangered someone or something they viewed as theirs. And Rose Tyler was his, or that versions anyway.

"That can be easily arranged." And let it be war between them.


End file.
